Introducing our first woman in agribusiness to feature in Five Minutes With…Vic is smashing it in the world of agribusiness, with previous roles for Ballance and Pamu, she’s now Business Manager for Rooney Farms Ltd, based in Timaru. Read on to find out how someone with little farming experience before university wound up making ag her career, all done with a smile on her face and can-do attitude.
Describe yourself in 3 words…
Outgoing, resilient, determined.
What is your current role + what does a normal day look like for you?
I am currently Business Manager for Rooney Farms Ltd, based in Timaru. Rooney Farms consists of about 70,000ha of a combination of freehold and crown lease land running approximately 100,000 stock units of sheep, beef and deer as well as 3500 dairy cows. The group also has forestry interests and arable land.
Every day can look pretty different, but my time is generally split between office work, and on farm time. For example, this week in the office, I have worked on a couple of business cases for capital expenditure, as well as budgets and some preparation for a couple of meetings with on farm teams. I have also met with a neighbour to nail down a plan for a boundary fence, met with some of our suppliers to make plans for the coming cropping season, and done my regular monthly visit to one of the North Canterbury properties to meet with the farm manager and his team, as well as the vet who we have been working with on our strategy around drench resistance.
So basically, I do anything and everything that might be required on any given day! With lots of RFL’s farms in South Canterbury, it also makes it really easy to head on farm if I need to get my head around a particular challenge.
Can you tell us about your career path?
I fell into the primary sector a little bit by accident as my parents didn’t farm and I had very little exposure to farming before university. I went to Massey to study to be a vet, but my heart wasn’t really in it. I was going to transfer to a BSC but thanks to an excellent career’s advisor and some exposure to Young Farmers and a few other ag things at uni I decided to give a Bachelor of Applied Science a crack. As soon as I got stuck in, I felt like I had found my thing!
I ended up graduating with a double major in Agriculture and Rural Valuation thinking I would go banking. After a summer stint driving tractors for a contractor and doing a squash harvest in Hawke’s Bay, I landed a graduate job with Summit Quinphos, which had been recently acquired by Ballance. I ended up staying with Ballance for nearly seven years, working in the Coromandel, Waikato, Canterbury and Central Otago and getting to see some incredible places and work with an awesome bunch of customers and colleagues. I spent most of my time at Ballance based in the South Island and developed a real network of friends and connections particularly in Otago as well as a true affinity for the region.
While at Ballance I completed the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, which was a real game changer for me. After a bit of soul searching, I set myself some goals and wound up landing a Regional Business Manager job with Pamu looking after Gisborne and Wairoa. This was another awesome company to work for and I spent four years supervising farms on the East Coast and did a stint looking after some in the Central Plateau too.
Both Ballance and Pamu were big on professional and personal development and I really capitalised on that. I learned that I thrived off a challenge and I learned so much about developing and leading teams. It was very hard to say goodbye to my East Coast team, but the pull of the South Island was strong and when I was offered my current role at Rooney Farms, I couldn’t say no.
Best advice you’ve ever received?
“If you don’t look after yourself, no one else will.” I spent a lot of energy early in my career taking other people’s problems on as my own and trying to help other people, sometimes to the detriment of my own health and career. I can still picture vividly the exact moment I was given that advice and it was exactly what I needed at the time.
What inspires you?
Two things, people and our stunning country. I am a person who is really energised by being around people, and having a strong community around me brings out the best in me. There is nothing quite like a really strong rural community and that has always been what has inspired me to help farmers to be more profitable so that rural communities can thrive in the current uncertain conditions that the sector is experiencing.
I am also super inspired by the incredible country I am lucky enough to work in every day. Nothing beats getting up in the morning and getting to drive to the top of some stunning high country station – lucky I get to do this quite often!!
What would you tell other women wanting to get into a career in agribusiness?
Surround yourself with people who back you, but also aren’t afraid to give you honest and tactful feedback. Don’t worry too much what the rest of them think. The people who have been the most influential in my career have never been afraid to have a courageous conversation and give me feedback I can do something with. But they have also always backed me unconditionally, I have never felt like their feedback has meant they backed me any less, even when the feedback has been challenging to hear.
It's also easy to default to being tough and defensive in an industry which can be overwhelmingly masculine sometimes, but it’s super important to not let this mask the qualities and skills you bring to the table.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned in business?
To have a courageous conversation when it’s a small one, before it becomes a major.
Dream way to spend a day?
At this time of the year, out hunting on my horse with good friends. As if I don’t see enough farms during the week, hunting has been a great way to see some awesome country. I have also met some brilliant people on the hunt field that are now life long friends.
What are you listening to?
I go through phases with podcasts, but I love a good book and have a very wide taste in music. At the moment I am alternating between a new Marian Keyes book and ‘Atomic Habits’, which I am really enjoying too. I try to listen to some educational podcasts but sometimes you just need a true crime podcast to get you through a long trip!
You can follow Vic's exploits on the hunt field by following @Thrillofthechasenz
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